EXTRACTS FROM A PAPER WRITTEN BY TAUA TE WAHAROA, SON OF THE LATE WILLIAM THOMPSON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 56, 8 March 1870, Page 2

EXTRACTS FROM A PAPER WRITTEN BY TAUA TE WAHAROA, SON OF THE LATE WILLIAM THOMPSON.

The following extracts have been made from a letter furnished to us {Herald) by Taua Te Waharoa himself, and important as showing the feeling and temper of the King natives :—- ■ "We have come hither on account of the fighting at Tapapa, that it may not be continued at that place, but removed to those places where war is going on. Let the parties go thither to fight and not come to Tapapa. I said to the Government, send back youf men to their own places, to Waikato, and the Arawas to their own places, to create disturbances there. Let the peaceful inhabitants be conducted carefully back to their own. .villages. "It was said that the fighting would be directed against Te Kooti, but they [i.e. the Government army] killed the people of Tapapa, who had nothing to do with Te Kooti, and the army killed the people of Tauranga, who were resting on their own land, and wl o had nothing to do with Te Kooti. The Army seized our property at our own settlements, that is to say, the Arawas did this, and I have thought that perhaps thi3 fighting will drift dpwn on to me and to my people. JJ The great word "which I made known to the Government was its persistence in carrying out its own thoughts. I said to him [to the Governor] : Friend, do not attempt" to destroy me [the Maorisjthus; but let you and myself carefully consider what is good and what is bad. In consequence of your persistence, I think that you desire to kill us all [i.e., annihilate the Maori face], so that you may put youf wires, and make your roads according to your own reflections. Let him [the Governor] tell me.to plant food, to built fortresses, and levy aruiies f so that our fight may be. right [i.e.,Jso that the fight may be on somewhat equal terms—that both Maoris and Europeans may know that fighting is the order of the day] before the darkness" comes on [i.e., before.a general war.] " Now then, reveal to us .your intentions so that we may fight while. the sun shines Ke:, an open.declaration of war on the part of the Government which, will be openly responded. to. by the Maoris.] ' " I.have heard from the Governor things which relate to us, to the tribes, and to our lands. I shall return-to the king and tell"himr ~ "All wisdom is with the. Almighty, arid he imparts it to the chief and servant alike. , (Signed)*" Taua TeWaharoa."